Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+  

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for but here are some questions to ask yourself

• Have you written a business plan?
• Do you have a patent?'m not sure 
• Does it infringe on another's patent?
• What is the print time?
• How many do expect to sell?
• Can you keep up with this demand?
• How will you market them?
• How many man-hours to get one out the door (include marketing, setup, production, packaging, shipping)?
• Material and supplies cost?
• Printer maintenance costs?
• Will the selling price cover all these costs and provide a profit?
• Is 3d printing the best way to manufacturer this product?
• Are you willing to ruin a perfectly good hobby by turning it into a business?

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

I have the strong impression that this is a form of spam.

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

how so? I just launched the thing. I have one family member on my email list, and I'm looking for feedback and comments in general, but specifically from people who know about the machine I'm using to produce it. Getting the porosity just right will be tricky, for example.

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

- no written business plan but I've thought about it enough to have a clear plan of action for now (to launch a KS). It used to be common to have a long written plan but nowadays even if you approach VCs they're only interested in a page or two

- patent pending

- I cannot know 100% if it infringes on other patents. But I believe that it does not. The most similar prior art I could find was expired, and I do not believe it was too similar anyways.

- The print time depends heavily on settings. messing with speed, "extra length on restart", extrusion multiplier and a few other things, I've got it pretty fast. If I used a CHT nozzle and e.g. a 0.6mm nozzle, I believe I could average one full unit (made up of 8 parts) per printer per 8-hour workday.

- I have no idea how many I can expect to sell, but the beauty of using 3D printers is that it's perfectly scalable. More sales, more printers. 

- I need to get a handle on marketing. I've been taking it one step at a time. I figured out CAD, 3D printers, product filming and editing, and now I need to work on colour coding to put the final touches on the short product video you can see on the website.

- It's hard to average "man hours" like that because I don't know what sales will be so it mixes up hypothetical fixed and variable costs. The important thing (I think) is good margins + achieving some acceptable sales minimum.

- Material and supplies will be heavily contingent on how exactly I solve perfecting the porosity and simultaneously water-tightness (I mean eliminating unintended leaks).  

- Printer maintenance costs should be minimal on MK3S+ printers. I only have one for now. Let's say depreciation is 10% the printer's cost price per year, no biggie.

- The sale price depends on some estimate of how to cover costs while maximising sales. Similar and frequently much smaller products sell for a much higher price than I anticipate for this product. 

- Assuming I can perfect the porosity question, 3D printing is probably the most effective manufacturing method up until having millions in revenue, which seems very hypothetical to me. IF revenues were huge, then I guess injection moulding could make sense, but there are 8 parts, so the moulds would be very costly. I am also biased towards printing. So unless the numbers are absolutely screaming to switch to moulding in some hypothetical successful future, I'll stick with 3D printing. Bottom line being: 3D printing is the most logical manufacturing method I should be spending my time thinking about. And the MK3S+ is an ideal workhorse for the task, I think.

- I think I am. The more I think about it, the more I think olla-style irrigation has an application in vertical farming. There's space for all sorts of systems, but I think an olla-like system offers unique benefits. 

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

any advice to make the site look less spammy?

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

I genuinely would appreciate feedback. I had to be all paranoid before filing and keep it under wraps because if I told everyone, only one person would have to post about it online and it's no longer patentable. So it's nice to finally be able to get opinions.

I am not a patent lawyer:

The prior patent and prior art are obviously not patentable 'though your selective waterproofing system and mode of application might be.  Patents are a very expensive way of protecting a product in the internet age as you will need to protect, seperately, all international markets and producer states.

You do, of course, have copyright in your design.

I would go for a low key local release and test the market, get the product into a few hundred customers' hands and deal with any feedback before delivery and potential returns become prohibitive.

So the website could be mothballed for a while...

Cheerio,

RE: Launching a product manufactured 100% with Prusa MK3S+

The idea is to run a Kickstarter for it. The most pressing issue is achieving optimal porosity. I'm considering wood-based filament and TPUs designed for filtration. If you can think of any other suggestions, that would be great.

The patent is just for one country, but that buys you a 14-month priority filing date for any other countries. The idea being that if I could make it work via a Kickstarter in that timeframe, I'd patent further, if not, I won't.

priority filing date for any other countries

... some others ...

Don't forget that moisture tends to wick along the lay of filament - which might enable you to direct micro-flows.

Cheerio,